sailingdutchy

Good evening to all , we have been very busy after we returned from the Rotterdam and even though it is already late I just like to add a few pictures. I just have a few pictures of our day in Manilla where we arrived with the Volendam in November of 2017 . We had a very nice welcome in the Port where of coarse there also were a lot of Philippine families looking to meet crew members who are such a large and important portion of the crew on all of the Holland America ships. We had a very nice and adventurous tour in a crowded and noisy Manilla but I lost a good number of nice pictures because of technical camera problems but here a few of them without too much commentary . I had a lot of fun in the Jeepney but for Martha it was the first and last time ………..guess she is use to more luxurious forms of transportation . Sorry there is not much more to share today . Guess we have to go back there again we got very close to Manilla in Febryary of 2020 when we were on the infamous Westerdam cruise when Covid struck , we made it almost to the 200 mile nautical border of the Philippines when we were told by that Government we do not want you turn around ………..so we than floated in circles for another 12 days to find a place that would accept us , and you know the end of the story there were absolutely no cases of Covid on the Westerdam ! Did we look concerned ............. Tony 😁😁

Just before we are driving to Toronto and flying to Ft Lauderdale Saturday morning , if it ever stops snowing today , I will gather some pictures from our visit to Nha Trang on Jan 24 , 2020 while we were on the Westerdam . YES on that cruise ! We had not heard at that time any rumours yet about a Covid outbreak in China but one week after this tour we saw the first signs that something was up when we docked in Hong Kong and saw all of these people with masks and 4 days after that we were lost at sea looking for a place to land on shore and rush home because nobody else in Asia wanted to see us go on shore ! We had a wonderful tour with our guide Dung Pham to a number of beautiful places and also visited a number of places where we were between the local people . Sorry no time today to give you names of places just some nice photos without any comments . We saw a lot that day which made a lasting impression on us of hard working people that made us feel very welcome. That evening we had a great dinner with friends …….and it was a pop up night , guess where ! This is probably the last you will hear from us until we get back home after our cruise , I do not want to post from my iPad on board ship . Take care everybody ! Tony 😄😄

Thank you very much @kazu Jacqui and all other Daily friends for the good wishes , we are almost finished packing our suitcases and are counting on nice weather in the Caribbean ! Tony & Martha 😍

@Seasick Sailor could you tell me please who the current Captain of the Rotterdam is would it be Werner Timmers or Bas van Dreumel ?

Will do Joy and Allen , I send a reminder to myself ! Enjoy the rest of your cruise and safe returns home !

Good morning to all ! Thank you for the Daily : Jacqui , Rich , Vanessa, Debbie , Roy, and for ALL the contributions from many others . I might not be posting that often but I have been reading the Daily almost everyday . We have been to Napier , New Zealand and had a wonderful day there so I will check if I have some special pictures to share. This from the Oosterdam on April 1st 2013 . Uhhh….. NO honestly…….we did not go to Hooters ……..and I have no pictures from there! Six siblings from one family live in these similar houses although exterior looks different . Different architectural designs even for newly built homes and offices The Art Deco architectural designs found in Napier where a direct result of the rebuilding of this city after the devastating earthquake hit the city on Feb 3rd 1931 and the rebuilding started right after that. Mission Winery Beautiful scenery outside of Napier Back into Port we had a nice send off . DW forgot her ID when returning to the port and she was taken into detention for a while , but was later allowed to rejoin me after a lot of questioning . ppppfffftttttt ! Lucky me ! Have a wonderful week everybody ! Tony 😄

Might as well give you our weather report as many like to do : Currently it is 0 degrees ( Celsius of coarse ) and it feels like -5 C . There is snow on the roof and a sprinkling on the ground , high time to go on a cruise soon ! So for you down South 0 is the point when water freezes ! Today just a couple of pictures from our cruise in 2013 on the Oosterdam from Auckland to Vancouver in the spring of 2013 . We made it through all three inlets in Fiordland National Park that day , had sunny but cool and very calm weather. Milford Sound / Piopiotahi was the most impressive one of the three . It had been a dry summer in N.Z so there were not a lot of waterfalls to be seen that year . After that day we had to cross what the locals call “ The Ditch “ , which is the Tasman Sea named after Abel Tasman to Hobart, Tasmania for a couple of days where very often it can be a very, very rough crossing . Ours was nice and calm. BTW Abel Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer best known for his voyages in 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company searching for routes and looking for uncharted regions in the South Pacific Ocean when he first reached Tasmania ( which he had named Van Dieman’s Land and soon thereafter the West Coast of New Zealand so named after the Province of Zeeland in the Netherlands ( * Wikipedia ) PastedGraphic-1.tif Tony 😄

Today an older Posting popped up about Big Band transatlantic crossings , so I added my 2 cents worth which I would also like to share here with our Daily Friends ………….. I believe this might have been the very last time with HAL that on a Transatlantic Cruise we had a Big Band on board . We happened to be on the Oosterdam from Florida to Rome in March of 2016 and we had the extreme pleasure to be serenaded almost every day by the Harry James band ( 16 members ) under the direction of Fred Radke . This had been advertised on HAL which attracted a good number of cruisers and there were also a large number of fantastic dancing couples on board ship and on the dance floor in the crows nest ! The Harry James Band were also a couple of evenings the Entertainment on the Main Stage ! We also happened to receive our Silver medals from Captain Michiel Willems on that cruise Fred’s wife was the singer at the time in the Harry James Band A fantastic crossing was had by all ..........very nostalgic ! Tony 😍

I believe this might have been the very last time with HAL that on a Transatlantic Cruise we had a Big Band on board . We happened to be on the Oosterdam from Florida to Rome in March of 2016 and we had the extreme pleasure to be serenaded almost every day by the Harry James band ( 16 members ) under the direction of Fred Radke . This had been advertised on HAL and there were also a number of fantastic dancing couples on board ship and on the dance floor in the crows nest ! They were also a couple of evenings the Entertainment on the Main Stage ! We also happened to receive our Silver medals from Captain Michiel Willems on that cruise Fred’s wife was the singer at the time in the Harry James Band A fantastic crossing was had by all Tony 😍

We were on the Oosterdam last fall going form Athens to Fort Lauderdale a 28 day cruise and either in Civitavecchia or Barcelona the new " Traveling " Lincoln Center had come on board ship and treated us to 2 concerts on the main stage on 2 evenings to a full room , Piano , Cello , Violin , Guitar and Flute/ Clarinet / Saxofoon . They received standing ovations playing the adapted classics and also some South American compositions . They explained that indeed the plan was to go from ship to ship , they looked a little more " mature " players versus what we had seen over the last 3 or so years of the L C quartets , and also told us that they had studied in some 34 numbers specially adapted and composed for concerts like this as directed by head office . We were kind of lucky that the ship after we visited Malaga changed coarse and we had to go over the Canary Islands instead of Madeira or the Azores due to a huge storm system so they were stuck on the ship for a few extra days and three of the five treated us for a couple more nights in the "Old" space where Adagio used to play to some extra concerts . The pianist for instance played a fantastic Piano Concert ( by heart ) and the guitarist some Spanish classic compositions . I do not know if there is only one or more than one quintet on the road for the 9 ships for cruises longer than 10 days . Let's hope that what they told us is the plan for the next few years ! Tony

Our visit to Kyoto from Osaka Part 2 After lunch Ken took us to the Ginkaku-Ji Temple a World Cultural Heritage site ( Silver Pavilion ) with some of the most incredible gardens we have see in Japan . Here a couple of gardeners were sitting on their knees with tweezers taking out very small plants that did not belong in the particular desired moss or ground cover . Ken took us next to the downtown Gion street area a very old part of this old Imperial City Young Japanese ladies that dress up for the occasion , there are a lot of kimono for rent locations . Sorry I misidentified the first site from the other post it should have been the Ninna-Ji Palace and Gardens NOT the Fushimi Inari Shrine because that is where we went next and it is quite different . The cleansing ceremony explained and shown to do the proper way After a long but incredible day we arrived back in Osaka to continue our journey Sorry I am taking so much space today , but it so hard to make a choice out of hundreds of pictures on an incredible day .................... Hope you liked Kyoto a great location to go to from Osaka . Tony 😀😀

First of all I would like to wish everyone of you on the Daily a Happy and Healthy 2024 ! This was on our cruise with the Volendam in October / November of 2017 . We had a fantastic tour from Osaka , Japan to go for the day to Kyoto with 3 other couples and guided by a retired professor Mr Ken Sakurai a man with incredible knowledge and wonderful humour in a very comfortable Jumbo Taxi with wifi for all ! Because of the large number of pictures I might do it in a couple of posts First stop was at the Fushimi- Inaru Shrine and viewing the five storied Pagoda Our next place to visit was the Kinkaku- Ji Temple ( Golden Pavilion ) . An incredible beautiful place and gorgeous setting which despite a mild rain we all really enjoyed. After spending quite a bit of time here it was time to dry up a little and have a wonderful Japanese lunch , I always invite the guide and the driver to join us ,that way we get the best information about the local menus and what to order in the foreign countries for a little bit of extra cost for the group . To be continued after the break ……..

When on the Zuiderdam Panama Canal cruise in 2017 we also visited Cartagena and made a similar tour as @StLouisCruisers to the monastery , the same shops and walked possibly a few more different neighbourhoods so I will add some more pictures . Will try not to duplicate ………. Suburbs of Cartagena seen from the Mount I did NOT touch , promise ……….but you can see where people did …….! Had to get some Columbian coffee of coarse Tony 😄 BTW We should be back in Cartagena in about 3 weeks and have a nice very private tour booked for 2 so maybe I can come up with some new pictures .

Merry Christmas to all hope you had a very nice day ! We are very busy today and I have not had a chance yet to read the Daily Before they close the door on todays access to the Daily I would like to post just a few pictures from when we were in Basseterre - St Kitts cruising the Caribbean on the Nieuw Statendam in March of 2022. For a change we joined a HAL sticker tour which we quite enjoyed , we had a nice ride on a catamaran which in the end did not end very well because we suspected that that was the place where we picked up Covid even though we were fully vaccinated and when we returned to Ft Lauderdale to start our second leg of the cruise we were unceremoniously taken to a Covid hotel instead of continuing our cruise ! The captain of the catamaran kept saying that day “ Don’t worry be happy ……..” Once we had reached our destination after a nice and relaxing ride with a couple of drinks we boarded a train for a very nice ride back towards the ship with more drinks …... For the very first time after about 30 cruises with HAL we were in a very nice Vista Suite but not for long anymore because everybody on the BTB cruise had to get tested ……and yes we received the dreaded call and were moved to a Covid cabin behind the fire doors ……….wooden dinner ware and styrofoam cups for the wine .......at least we had a balcony to talk to the neighbours . Sad memories but at least we were not ill and had NO symptoms whatsoever , at least the Covid Hotel was very good and we enjoyed our stay there with a lot of freedom going outside the hotel . This was after a few days when we walked to town and had a very nice dinner while staying outside the restaurant . Tony 😥

Today it is Darwin where we landed with the Volendam on November 30th , 2015 on a 31 day cruise from Sydney on the Great Barrier Reef Cruise to be followed by a Far East Explorer Thank you very much Roy @rafinmd for posting the link , I remember we had a very nice day there good enough to show my pictures again today . After we arrived in Darwin we walked with our friends to the Crocosaurus Cove in town where we watched some shows with the saltwater crocodiles and saw in the museum many other creatures from this area . Different to see a Christmas tree for us Canadians in 92 degrees heat After a drink to cool us off we hopped onto the HOHO to go to the amazing Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Australian Territory where we spend a few hours to see all the indigenous art in this beautiful building . After another drink while watching and listening to all these gorgeous colourful birds we went back to the ship for a special dinner . Very nice adventurous self guiding day was had by all while we learned a lot about the Northern Territories . Great day in Darwin ! Happy Holidays , Merry Christmas and let's pray for Peace on Earth ! Tony😍

..........Oh and I forgot to tell you that day I did NOT go to see Dolly in Port , I had my thrills ......... 😁😁

All the way back in 2007 we were in Ketchican for the very first time on the Zaandam and I booked for myself a floatplane tour to the lake to see if the bears were out looking for salmon . Martha and DMIL were not up for this so I said my goodbye enjoy the town I will see you later ………. It so worked out perfectly for me and I was allowed to ride shotgun with the pilot as long as I did not touch anything ….. Perfect place to shoot a few nice pictures and what a thrill It was a very nice and clear day . Getting ready to land on the lake. There is one After a nice walk through the salmon farm we pulled back up And ready for another perfect landing near the Zaandam Don’t know if I have a chance in the coming days , if not , I would like to wish all the Dailyites a Merry Christmas enjoy the holidays and than we get ready all together to count our blessings and celebrating the birth of a New Year . Thank you to ALL the contributors of the Daily , this is a wonderful place to meet cruise friends Tony 😍

Thank you for this picture @Crazy For Cats great to see this is a fairly old coin from during the reign of King Willem III of the Netherlands who was King from 1849 until 1890. From what I can see it was from 1872 , from about the same time " Holland Amerika Lijn " was formed ! A little bit of history about these coins The value of the coin for most countries is a very unusual amount , 2 guilders and 50 cents which can throw you off when using a few of them if you are bad in math , to pay for your purchases. Called the " Rijksdaalder " these coins staid in use until guilders were replaced by Euros on Jan 1st 2002 . Also unusual was that these older coins during the reigns if King Willem I to Willem III had a silver content of about 94 % or about 18 grams of fine silver and if you had a few in your pocket they became weighty . Later on the silver content was dropped considerably and by 1969 silver content was removed completely . T

Few more pictures of Chania when we were in Oct of 2022 in Souda on the Oosterdam . We took the shuttle bus again and strolled through the city . Chania is also a Port town but only for smaller vessels The weather was beautiful this time so Martha had to do some posing in the pretty little harbour . Commercial : " Time for a real beer ! " There is that guy again the birdie has left its post on top of his head ….. See you all in the next Port , take care and be well ! Tony 😘

We have been a couple of times to Souda while of the Oosterdam and took the shuttle from the port to Chania the second largest city on the Island of Crete. After visiting the market and making a few purchases we walked to the pretty port of Chania , enjoyed a nice beverage when a flash thunderstorm opened the skies which was good for a few nice pictures ! Just to be clear dear Martha did NOT bend that tree We had to abandon our seats on the front row on the terrace but 20 min later everything was normal again , After returning on the shuttle and the captain was ready to leave we enjoyed watching a beautiful sunset in Souda I might check out if the pictures from the second visit were much different . Enjoy your day and be well Tony 😄

In April of 2018 while we were on the Trans Atlantic crossing from Ft Lauderdale to Rotterdam on the MS Rotterdam VI we landed in Brest , France and with the great help from Jacqui @kazu I chartered a full size bus and provide transportation for a group of 27 of us to go to the beautiful medieval town of Quimper . This was done through a broker and even though it was quite an undertaking and I was a little nervous because I felt the responsibility but everything went great and we had a very nice day with great transportation . Once in Quimper everybody could choose whatever they wanted to see or do as long as they were all back in time to get back to Brest . Always have a problem with pictures taken with my iPad , but you get the idea . A little bit of rain did not bother us , with all we were able to see For a nice lunch we went to a very nice Creperie In the afternoon we went to a very nice market in the center of town but for some reason I lost those pictures I was very happy to see everybody was back on the bus on time and Mrs Berangere drove us back right into the Port next to the Rotterdam . That evening we went over our adventures with our friends having a nice dinner in the Pinnacle Grill and later on partied because it was the Kings birthday April 27 and Orange Party night . Cheers , Tony 😄

Guess you have all seen my pictures of Sidney from 2013 while we were on the Oosterdam a couple of weeks ago when I reposted them mistakenly when it was Melbournes turn ……turkey...…. So today a few different pictures from our other cruise while on the Volendam which took us from Sidney to Singapore in 2015 . Will try to show Sidney from a different angle without too much commentary : Arrival in Sidney via Hong Kong Nov 20 2015, What’s that ….???? All the stores were ready for Christmas ……..without snow ….. Oops....... Oh yes we were in Australia Pub where nobody ……... Speaks no evil , sees no evil or hears no evil ! So they did not need a doorman to throw people out on the sidewalk ! From the Volendam, the famous bridge from the other side in a beautifully landscaped area Just having a look that we fit underneath the bridge And of coarse the obligatory picture of the Sidney Opera house that the Danish Architect Jorn Utzon who had won the International design completion for an opera house in 1957 which when construction was actually started caused a lot of uproar with the actual construction problems and delays and was not completed and opened by Queen Elizabeth until 1973 . Utzon was invited to be present but declined to go to the opening ………. Now this is one of the worlds most recognizable structure together with the Eifel Tower in Paris , the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall in China ! Hope I had the correct Port Destination today .... Tony 😁😁

Thank you for the Daily Rich , Vanessa and all contributors , I see that there is another beautiful Port on today’s draw , Ravenna where we have been to on the Prinsendam on Oct 17th , 2016 . Because I knew that the industrial Port is quite a ways away from the town of Ravenna I had connected with a guide and arranged that she would pick us up in the Port with a couple of mini vans for a dozen of us . Also on our tour with us were Ann and Pat @VictOriann and their DD Cathy . I just saw a lot of very nice pictures of the mosaics already posted so I will try to find a few different ones which will give a good impression of Ravenna Look at this beautiful fence around the mausoleum where Dante is buried , I tried to look through the window in the door but Pat checked if the door was open ……….and voila there it was…… ohoh .... It is hard to stay away from my mosaic pictures because that is what Ravenna is so famous for ……… Time for our morning cup of coffee with the McCarthy's After a nice little lunch some more gorgeous churches a museum and mosaics in Ravenna. It was than time for our shuttle to take us to the outskirts of Ravenna to the Basilica of St Apollinare in Classe A wonderful tour was had with our very knowledgeable guide Silvia by all but it was now time to say Arrivederci and go back Home to the Prinsendam where I had asked Canaletto manager Rifki if he had space for 15 of us for a nice Italian dinner which of coarse for me included my favourite Zuppa di Pesce ! Rifki had specially built for us during the day two very large tables in the Canaletto by the window ! Tony😄😄 Translated : Ravenna , Friendly City of Women !

We have been to Madeira half a dozen times and like the Azores it is a wonderful Island to arrive at either as first port going East from or last going West to Fort Lauderdale . We have explored the Island with the same wonderful guide and friend Daniel . The nature of the Island with all of its exotic flora is just amazing very green and I believe the only place in Europe that grows lots of bananas . The times we have been there we went to different areas of the island. Some of our favorite places to visit were , the Mercado in Funchal , Porto Moniz , Santana , Sao Vicente , Machico and Camara de Lobos ( and on the way back to the ship don't forget to have a few sips of the special Madeira drink Poncha and visit the Henriques & Henriques Madeira winery ) They say this a great tasting fish but don't think I would love to see it on my plate ....... The pictures are from a couple of different tours that we made with Daniel and they are not in any particular order , with the exception of our visit to Henriques which is always last on our program . Have a great weekend all ! Tony 😁